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Esteghlal vs. Perspolis

Why are you a fan?

I've wanted to post this thread for awhile now. As a very proud Iranian, but one who was born and raised in the States, I have always wondered what leads certain people to be a fan of one team over the other. With other derbies it usually depends on what part of this city you are from, but as they both play in the same stadium, that doesn't seem to be the case here. I have been a Perspolis fan myself for the past 20 years because they had some of my favorite players at the time (Daei, Bagheri, Mahdavikia, Abedzadeh). But that was because I was in the States and wasn't really a part of the fandom.

Please help me understand what the fan bases are really like... Here are some examples...

Do one team's fans tend to more religious?

Does geography within Tehran dictate who you support?

Is there a class divide between fans of each team? Education divide?

Any other differences or details you can share are appreciated. Or even a personal story of why you chose one team over the other.

I've wanted to post this thread for awhile now. As a very proud Iranian, but one who was born and raised in the States, I have always wondered what leads certain people to be a fan of one team over the other. With other derbies it usually depends on what part of this city you are from, but as they both play in the same stadium, that doesn't seem to be the case here. I have been a Perspolis fan myself for the past 20 years because they had some of my favorite players at the time (Daei, Bagheri, Mahdavikia, Abedzadeh). But that was because I was in the States and wasn't really a part of the fandom.

Please help me understand what the fan bases are really like... Here are some examples...

Do one team's fans tend to more religious?

Does geography within Tehran dictate who you support?

Is there a class divide between fans of each team? Education divide?

Any other differences or details you can share are appreciated. Or even a personal story of why you chose one team over the other.

Thanks

My dad, his brothers and my grandfather were all huge Persepolis fans, so I did the same.

Regarding class and education - it has basically evened out now but before the revolution, Taj (Esteghlal) was very much connected to the government and Persepolis was seen as the people's team. Persepolis was basically the reincarnation of Shahin which had been forcibly closed down by the gov of the time.

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My entire family are Persepolis fan. I was a fierce fan of Persepolis and Ali Karimi when I was a kid, then growing older I became less interested specially with years of bad management of the club and growing older myself. I usually follow good football not club name. In past 3-4 years I became more interested in Persepolis because I started to play football at my University, and PP slowly showed some sparks of the past. All kori with SS fans was more of an old habit. As of last month I became less interest again and finally I think after WC, I might be less active following Iranian league, but I still follow NT and play football with my crew on the weekends. SS and PP both were backbone of NT for years. I have nothing against SS fans.

Before revolution SS was somewhat connected to government and Royal family used to help them financially, in other hand Persepolis had two fan bases. 1. the old followers of Shahin club which was a very successful and respected club (my family were big fans of Shahin) 2. Some middle class and working class families who were somewhat in opposition to government

Now there is not much of a difference. Both clubs have connection to the regime via different channels. The old Shahin club's motto (Ethics first, education second, sports third) is not visible anymore in PP either.

Much like elementary school, soccer at morning recess with tennis balls continued to be popular. There were pretty constant groups and teams although every once in a while someone new might have been added. The madness of competing on a field with multiple other games simultaneously going on required much skill to navigate although we somehow would pull it off every recess. Another element that was added to our games was our introduction to Tehran’s Club Championship. The two top teams, Esteghlal and Persepolis, dominated headlines and thus it was natural for us to be routing for one or the other and pretend we were them as we kicked the ball around. For our recess group of players, the majority sided with Esteghlal. It was thus that, without knowing any players or history of the team, I opted to root for Persepolis.

I went to Sharif University. I'm a superior genetic mutation, an improvement on the existing mediocre stock.

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I grew up supporting Esteghlal primarily because my dad was a Taj fan growing up and all my cousins were for Perspolis so I wanted to be against them lol.. As I grew up and understood football more, I supported Sepahan which I still do today since I am from Isfahan and I always believe in supporting where you are from.

Perspolis primarily have supporters that are opposition of government along with old Shahin supporters.
Esteghlal mainly have government supported fans but both fanbases have opposition and loyalists.

Most of the country is primarily supported of Perspolis with a 60-40 ratio if I had to guess.